Sheinbaum Won’t Negotiate Tax Bill With Billionaire Salinas

(Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected a request from magnate Ricardo Salinas to negotiate billions of dollars in tax claims the government alleges his companies owe. 

Sheinbaum said Friday she would not engage in what she called “negotiations in the dark” over the tax disputes, worth up to 74 billion pesos ($4 billion). Salinas has been organizing a political movement in opposition to the leftist Mexican government. 

“The point is that there are things that are not negotiable, because it’s not political, it’s the law,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. 

Sheinbaum has made criticizing Salinas and his alleged tax debts a recurrent theme. On Thursday, Salinas called on Sheinbaum to cease attacks against him and engage in an “open, serious and transparent negotiation” over the alleged tax bill. 

“What’s at stake is the trust of millions of Mexicans who want a country with clear rules, investment, jobs, and a future,” wrote Salinas, one of the country’s richest men, who controls appliance dealer and bank Grupo Elektra. 

Sheinbaum said the Mexican constitution now bans such tax forgiveness that had benefited the country’s elite in the past. Sheinbaum added Salinas did have the option of settling the 48 billion pesos in assessed tax claims and avoid some of the penalties, which together add up to a total of more than 74 billion pesos. 

Salinas’ companies have appealed the tax claims, and nine cases are set to be resolved by the country’s new Supreme Court. 

Just earlier this week, Salinas’ conglomerate had taken a more aggressive stance against Sheinbaum, saying it is evaluating suing the government for slander and accusing it of engaging in “political persecution.” But a day later Salinas himself posted the request to negotiate.  

Salinas has played coy to repeated questions in recent years as to whether he will seek the presidency. 

He has he built an over 2 million-strong social media following for his Tio Richie, or Uncle Rich, persona, who has been a fierce critic of the leftist ruling party, alleging widespread corruption and failures to rein in criminal violence. He has said in recent interviews that he is seriously considering a run, inspired by other political outsiders’ victories such as Javier Milei in Argentina. 

Last week, Salinas made his own video to mark Mexico’s Independence Day, where he mimicked Sheinbaum’s official solemnities during the night’s celebrations and called on Mexicans to join a campaign opposed to her party that would embrace private property and freedom. 

Salinas is also planning to publicly celebrate his 70th birthday in Mexico City’s main soccer stadium, posting an invitation on Friday asking people to register and saying the cost of the event is on him.  

Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, famously held his closing campaign rally at the same stadium in 2018.

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